Outside Tap Help

[Matthew Harman]

Hi,

I am planning the installation of an outside tap in my new house.

I have been looking up the subject and the consensus of opinion is that the tap should be installed as a tee of the pipework as close to the rising main as possible. The rising main in the property is under the kitchen sink which is at the front of the property.

Ideally I would like the tap to be installed off the utility room to the side of the property rather that the front by the rising main.

Would the water pressure be significantly different in the utility room (furthest end of kitchen from the sink) where I have a sink and the washing machine plumbed in? The water system in the house is of the "direct" type, i.e. there is no cold water tank in the loft.

Any help and advice would be appreciated

Matthew

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[Andy Hall]

It really depends on the plumbing arrangement and the length and bore of pipe. In fact what happens is that the flow and pressure drop as you move further from the rising main especially if the internal pipework is only 15mm.

Try checking the flow rate at the utility room tap (time how long it takes to fill a bucket or other container of known size). Compare with the kitchen tap. This will give you a rough comparison.

For the tap connection, do it with proper plumbing parts and not one of the self tapping kits that the DIY stores sell - these drop the flow a lot.

You will need a suitable tee piece, an isolating valve (for this application use a lever ball valve because it is full bore and won't restrict flow); a double check valve (this is required by law to prevent siphoning of nasty stuff back into the mains), an appropriate number of elbows, a wall plate and a tap to screw into it.

You can do this all using compression fittings unless you fancy having a go at soldering the fittings. This is a good first plumbing project. The wall plate will probably have a compression fitting anyway. You will need some PTFE tape or some hemp and Boss White to seal the thread where the outside tap screws into the wall plate.

.andy

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[mike ring]

"Matthew Harman" wrote in news:40266caa$0$29$ [e-mail]:

I'd be interested to know what the reason for your advice is.

In blissfull ignorance I put mine where I dam well wanted it, and Norm next door did the same with his 3.

They all work ok

mike r

[Peter Stockdale]

Yes , mine comes out of the utility room wall, well away from the incoming main supply. Such taps are normally used so infrequently, that where they come in the order of things makes any pressure differences of little consequence.

Pete Stockdale

[Christian McArdle]

My outside tap (which I fitted yesterday) just needed a standard 15mm tap connector. The check valve was internal to the tap, although I'm probably regretting not using a standard one inside instead, as I bet it won't help against freezing as I didn't fit a drain point to the stub of pipework through the wall. I prefer tap connectors to standard threaded joints, as there is no Boss White/PTFE and it is much easier to get the thing pointed downwards when it is tightened up!

Christian.

[David Cameron]

To add to the other advice given :- Insulate any external pipework. Insulate and sleeve the pipework through the wall.

HTH, Dave

[Dave Plowman]

I'm not quite sure why this would matter in practice. I've got two - one at the front of the house as close to the incoming main as near possible, and one at the back which is the furthest thing in terms of distance. If there's a difference in flow or pressure, I've not noticed it.